


Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

by iam93percentstardust



Series: The Play's the Thing [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Maria Stark's A+ Parenting, Mostly Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:20:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26662075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iam93percentstardust/pseuds/iam93percentstardust
Summary: It's been years since anyone besides Maria's friends joined her for lunch. There had been a time once when everyone knew that if you wanted to speak with Maria Stark, you found her at the little cafe by the park but that time is long gone. The offers had mostly stopped coming some twenty years ago and then she had had Tony and the offers had stopped altogether and now Maria Stark often ate alone, almost always unbothered because who would notice an old, washed-up actress like herself?
Relationships: Maria Stark & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: The Play's the Thing [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805272
Comments: 21
Kudos: 146





	Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

For as long as Maria could remember, Wednesdays had been the day that she dined at Le Petit Café. It was a small restaurant, not very expensive with simple, rustic decor, but with a wonderful view of Central Park. When she had first moved to New York all those years ago after telling her parents that she was giving up her inheritance to become an actress, Le Petit had been all that she could afford. She had met her first director there, Mr. Robbins, whose musical had recently lost its star and needed a replacement. Maria had heard wonderful things about _West Side Story_ and when he had asked her if she wanted the role without even bothering to audition her, all because she looked a certain way, she had known better than to turn him down.

That had been the start of it but it certainly hadn’t been the end. All through her long career, she had met directors and coworkers and friends at Le Petit. She’d even taken Howard once or twice, though he had never shown the same reverence for it as everyone else had so she had stopped. Everyone had known it—if you wanted to meet Maria Stark, you waited until Wednesday and then you found her at a little café by the park.

It had been years since anyone other than her friends joined her for lunch and even they didn’t come very often. Time was, she always had someone to eat with her: directors, producers, anyone and everyone who wanted to curry the good favor of Maria Stark. But the offers had mostly stopped coming some twenty years ago and then she had had Tony and the offers had stopped altogether and now Maria Stark often ate alone, almost always unbothered because who would notice an old, washed-up actress like herself?

Still, she went anyway and for an hour, she lost herself in the memories of when times were better, when she was still young and beautiful and graced the stage of every major production on Broadway.

The current owners, a brother and sister, took over the business from their parents. Maria had been coming here since their mother had been pregnant with their older sibling. She had watched these two grow up; they called her Auntie and always had her table reserved for her when she stepped through the door.

Except today, Ellie greeted her with a worried expression and whispered, “I’m so sorry, I tried to tell him the table was reserved but he refused to hear it. He—”

Maria held up a hand to stop her apologies. She could see the back of the head of the person who stole her table and, while for a moment she had been worried that it had been someone younger and more beautiful than her, someone who could take her table from her for good, she didn’t think she had anything to worry about from the person sitting there.

“It’s alright, Eleanor,” she said quietly. “It’s just my son.”

Her words gave Ellie pause. In Le Petit, Maria hadn’t been Maria Stark since years before Ellie and Russell had been born. The last time she’d brought Howard here had been decades earlier and she hadn’t brought Tony here since he had been a baby and Ellie and Russell only a few years older, too young then to remember him. She rather suspected that the siblings had thought her an old woman alone and mostly friendless.

 _And were they wrong?_ she thought as she wound her way through the tables. She and Janet rarely went to this café, choosing instead the fancy places that Janet van Dyne would be expected to be seen at. Most of her other friends had long since left New York and the ones that stayed were not the sort of friends she would take to her safe haven. Maria had spent most of her old age alone, her son kicked out of their home and her husband too busy to pay attention to her. She wondered sometimes, if she had done things differently, would she still be eating alone every Wednesday?

“Hello, Anthony,” she said as she drew even with the table.

Tony turned to her, smiling as he stood to greet her. “Ciao, Mama,” he said cheerfully and leaned forward to give her a hug. Surprised, she let him hug her. She couldn’t remember the last time Tony had done that, deciding it had probably been when he had still been a child. The Starks had not been a particularly affectionate family.

“How have you been?” Maria asked as she sat across from him.

He shrugged, a careless yet elegant movement that she recognized as practiced. She wondered if he’d learned it from her or if it was something he had picked up during his own years on the stage. “I’m sure you’ve read the papers,” he said casually.

Russell came out of the kitchen personally to greet them and take their drink orders: a mimosa for Maria because she found the ones here to be excellent and water for Tony.

“I’d rather hear it from you,” she said as Russell disappeared into the kitchen again.

He gazed at her, eyes open and frank. She didn’t know who he got that from, that open, emotional stare. The eyes might be the windows to the soul but hers and Howard’s had always been shuttered.

Eventually, he said, “You came to the show.”

Oh.

That was what this whole thing was about. That was why he was here. She was almost surprised he had waited so long. The show had been running for two months and she only went to the premiere.

“I did,” she replied evenly. Tony glanced away, out the window where someone was walking their dog past the restaurant. He watched them go and then turned back to her, raising his eyebrows.

“And?”

“Anthony, my darling, you were magnificent,” she murmured.

She hadn’t even noticed he was restless until he suddenly went still.

“You don’t mean that,” he said and his voice sounded so very pained that she longed to get out of her seat and hold her baby like she had when he had been young. She hadn’t wanted to do that in years, too resentful that she couldn’t go back to acting with a child under her belt.

“I do,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I haven’t told you before. I—I’ve gone to all of your shows but this was the first premiere. Anthony, truly, I haven’t seen a more talented actor in—in a very long time.”

Tony took an unsteady breath. “No,” he said desperately, like it was the only thing he knew. “You never go to my shows.”

She could have told him that she did but she doubted he would believe it. And honestly, she didn’t blame him. Maria didn’t make a big deal out of going to his shows the way she did for others. She almost hadn’t even gone to _Midsummer_ , convinced that he wouldn’t have wanted her there on his big night. Janet had been the one to convince her to go and Maria had agreed on the condition that Tony wouldn’t know she was there.

“Right after your father—” she stopped. _Right after Howard kicked him out_. She didn’t know why she couldn’t say the words, they both knew what had happened. They had both been there. She cleared her throat. “You got a chorus role in _Wicked_. The director took a chance on you and hasn’t worked since then because your father was furious about it. It was the role that convinced you to make yourself look like bad news so that only the truly determined would hire you. You didn’t even have a single line in that play but I remember being so proud of you for giving it your all.

“Your next role was larger but it was still a side character, some small show that only ran for two months. I don’t even remember the name of the show anymore but I remember that you were a ranch hand. You wore blue overalls and a red bandanna and grew your hair out. That was what you did for two years, side characters in small shows while you built up your reputation of being difficult to work with, until Coulson hired you. Janet said you had offers though, larger roles, larger shows. You turned them all down though and let the directors say that they turned you away because of your reputation. I know your career, I followed it.”

There was a wet sheen to Tony’s eyes and Maria looked away to give him some privacy while he pulled himself back together. It was what she would have wanted, after all. Their drinks arrived and she ordered for both of them, giving Tony more time to dry his eyes. She may not have had much to do with her son but she still knew his preferences.

“You never said anything,” Tony said as Russell walked away.

“You wouldn’t have wanted me to,” she said simply. She believed it be true too, right up until Tony dropped his gaze to his lap, picking at the cloth napkin. “Did you?”

“I thought you agreed with him. That I was an—an abomination and all the other things Howard told me I was. It wasn’t like you were an affectionate parent.”

Maria didn’t really know what to say to that. She grew up in a time and place where wives supported their husbands and even when she moved to New York, those teachings had stuck with her, so while she hadn’t agreed with Howard for the things he did and said to their son, she hadn’t spoken out against him either. She had wondered, many times, in the years since then if she had made a mistake but it hadn’t been until this moment right here that she knew just how big of a mistake it was.

“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t enough, not nearly enough, and Tony knew it too, judging by the way his mouth twisted.

“Yeah, me too,” he muttered.

They were quiet for a time, sipping at their drinks and avoiding each other’s gaze. Their food arrived—French onion soup for Maria and a Monte Cristo for Tony—and then they were even quieter as they ate. She didn’t know how to break the silence or if Tony even wanted her to. For all she knew, he wanted her to pay for this meal and then be out of his life for good. She was starting to think she wouldn’t blame him if that was what he wanted.

“But you saw it,” Tony said eventually, breaking the silence between them. He dropped his knife onto his plate with a clatter. It had always amused her that her little boy hated messy food, that he ate almost everything with a knife and fork—except for burgers. Those, he ate with his hands.

“I did,” she agreed.

“And you liked it.”

“Except for the part where you jumped off a balcony.”

Tony smiled slyly. “Really? That was my favorite part.”

She smiled back, just as sly. “I thought that would have been you making out with Oberon.”

Tony blushed bright red. “You—you saw that?”

“Anthony, I went to the show. Of course I saw that.”

“I like him,” Tony said quietly. “Steve, I mean. He—uh—he helped me get out of my relationship with Ty.”

Maria knew from Janet just how bad the relationship with Tiberius Stone had gotten and she’d read all about how Coulson had quietly gotten the stage manager blackballed from the entire industry. Last she heard, he was currently trying to find jobs in London—and was completely unsuccessful.

“I’m glad,” she said. “I always thought you deserved better.”

Tony didn’t look like he completely believed her. That was fair. She had never given him any indication that she cared about anything that went on in his life, let alone Tiberius other than a single text after the breakup. How could he have possibly known that she hadn’t liked that boy since the first time she met him, that she had only been friendly and cordial to the Stones because Howard wanted her to be?

She let the subject drop though—there were times to pick a fight and this wasn’t one of them—and asked him instead, “But you like this boy?”

Tony blushed again. “He’s not a boy, Mama.”

“Of course not,” she demurred and winked at him. Tony’s blush deepened. “He’s all man, isn’t he?”

“Mama!” Tony declared, scandalized. She laughed but gamely decided to stop teasing him, even though it was like he was her little boy again with his first crush on little Hope Pym.

“And he’s good to you?” she asked gently.

“He’s _so_ good, Mama,” Tony said softly, sounded absolutely smitten. “Our first date was a little rough—we both decided it was too soon after the breakup—but he didn’t dump me. He just—took me back to my apartment and we made a pillow fort.”

Maria smiled wistfully. She remembered the early days of her relationship with Howard when he would have done something like that for her. Or maybe he never would have and she had just been too blind to see it.

“I’m glad,” she said simply.

Tony glanced out the window again, seemingly to avoid her sincere comment but when Maria followed his gaze, she saw the man himself getting out of a taxi. “He’s welcome to join us,” she said.

“Nah, we wouldn’t intrude like that,” Tony said, finishing off the last couple bites of his sandwich. “He’s just here to pick me up. There’s a new ice cream place that opened up a couple blocks away. We thought it sounded like a fun date.”

He dug his wallet out of his pocket and handed his card to Russell before Maria could stop him. “Anthony,” she murmured disapprovingly. “I’m your mother.”

“And I interrupted your lunch. Let me pay.” He looked back and smiled sadly. “I just wanted to see how you were doing. Talk to you about—about everything.”

“I understand.” And she did. She understood that this was the first step in a long road to reconciliation, if they were capable of it at all.

As he was buttoning up his coat, he paused and offered, “You know, we know it’s still a few months off from Christmas but Steve and I wanted to extend the invitation to you. _Just_ you but, you know, if you’re not doing anything this year.”

She probably was. Howard would probably want them to go to another networking Christmas party the way they always did and he’d want his Tony Award-winning wife there to support him. But she smiled anyways and said, “That sounds lovely.”

The smile Tony gave her in return was a knowing one that said he knew perfectly well she likely wouldn’t take them up on the offer at all. But he didn’t press the issue, just said, “Ciao, Mama.” And then he was gone, without even a hug. They weren’t an affectionate family after all.

But then she watched him go, watched him greet his boyfriend with a huge smile and a hug, watched Steve Rogers wrap his arms around Tony’s waist and bend him backwards in a thorough kiss, watched Tony’s cheeks pink again though he didn’t try to move away, instead leaning in closer against Steve’s side. The Starks weren’t an affectionate family but maybe Tony was an affectionate person.

“Miss Carbonell?” she heard Russell ask. “Can we tempt you with dessert today?”

She turned away from the window, away from her happy, laughing son, and gave Russell a smile that’s probably more bitter around the edges than she meant for it to be.

“Can’t you always?”


End file.
